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BT has urged Ofcom to choose a "shortcut" over any formal route with competition officials in the European Commission, following the communications regulator's call for the one-time state monopoly to open up its network to rivals in the UK.

Ofcom indicated in its once-in-a-decade review of UK digital communications that BT's voluntary proposals to fix competition concerns relating to the company's powerful Openreach network were not strong enough to appease the watchdog.

BT policy wonk Mark Shurmer told Ars, during a conference call with reporters on Thursday lunchtime, that Ofcom's decision to talk to officials in Brussels about the telecoms giant's network access and governance would inevitably lead to delays, which in turn—he claimed—would be bad for all broadband providers in the UK.

“Ofcom has to go to Brussels and say ‘we found a problem in the market, none of our existing powers can deal with it, such that imposing the functional separation is the only remedy and it’s a proportionate remedy to do'," he said.

"In order to make that case—which we think is pretty challenging by the way, given how well the market is operating—they’ve got to do a very detailed, evidence-based analysis. Brussels then acts as the referee, and has a right to veto on those proposals," Shurmer told Ars.

"We think that’s a very challenging, long, and complex legal process, which is why we think it’s in everyone’s interest to shortcut that and come to a voluntary agreement, and that’s what we’re going to be working on," he added.

Ofcom, which published its strategic review (PDF) earlier today, said that BT must give its competitors full network access to its underground ducts and telegraph poles. In addition, BT will be required to operate Openreach at arm's length from BT.

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The regulator—which has so far stopped short of demanding a structural separation of Openreach from BT—said it would now seek the help of Brussels officials in drawing up its plans. It had earlier warned that if BT fails to effectively open up its network to competition, and bring in the reforms demanded by the watchdog, then it could yet be forced to cut loose Openreach.

Shurmer claimed, however, that going down the formal route by engaging in talks with the European Commission was "a very long tortuous process," and he urged a rethink from Ofcom.

Meanwhile, TalkTalk boss Dido Harding—who has long lobbied for Openreach to be split from BT—complained today that the watchdog's preliminary report on BT had "little concrete action behind it," and warned that it could lead to delays in "delivering improvements for frustrated customers now."